A recruiting battle drawing in college football’s heaviest hitters is set to conclude, with 5-star WR Monshun Sales holding the power to alter the landscape of the Big Ten. The class of 2027 five-star recruit has drawn interest from Michigan, Alabama, Ohio State, and Notre Dame. However, it may come down to whether Indiana’s newfound success can truly disrupt the traditional power structure.

“This isn’t just any five-star recruit,” Josh Newberg said on the January 16 episode of Rivals. “I feel like this five-star recruit is a good barometer for where the Hoosiers stand in the grand scheme of it all nationally.”

Sales is the No. 2 wide receiver, the No. 1 player in Indiana, and the No. 8 player nationally, and that pedigree shows up every Friday night at Lawrence North. In 10 games this season, the 6-foot-4, 215-pound wideout hauled in 37 catches for 794 yards and nine touchdowns, which have nearly every national power circling him.

He has already made multiple trips to the Indiana campus, including being in attendance for the Hoosiers’ Week 12 win over Wisconsin, and he’s set to return again during the massive Junior Day at the end of the month.

“I expect Indiana to be in it till the end for five-star Monshun Sales and could ultimately land the coveted wide receiver,” Steve Wiltfong said.

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There’s also a familiar thread tying Sales’ recruitment even closer to Bloomington.

“Same high school that produced Omar Cooper,” Wiltfong said, “One of the top pass catchers and playmakers in this offense that’s looking to win the national championship in South Florida this weekend.”

Cooper was a four-star recruit in the 2022 class. He starred at Lawrence North as a three-sport athlete before committing to Indiana. However, Sales has also taken game-day visits to Ohio State and Miami, and the competition remains real. Still, momentum continues to build in Indiana’s favor.

“Indiana, the way they’re playing, the relationships with the staff, and the fact that IU does have resources…they have everything in position to ultimately land Monshun Sales,” Wiltfong said.

That belief didn’t come out of nowhere. Indiana’s recent on-field success and ability to develop talent, as seen with quarterbacks like Kurtis Rourke and Fernando Mendoza, has made Bloomington an increasingly attractive destination for top recruits like Sales.

Indiana’s commitment has followed the wins, with the football budget more than doubling from under $24 million in 2021 to over $61 million last year, and the Hoosiers have invested more than $20 million into the roster.

Indiana continues the same path at the QB position

Curt Cignetti’s wins keep piling up, and it’s fair to wonder why anyone wouldn’t want to be Indiana’s next in line. Kurtis Rourke came in and thrived. Fernando Mendoza followed, became a Heisman winner, and helped push the program into territory it had never touched before. The hunt for the next QB ended with Josh Hoover, a transfer from TCU who had previously committed to Indiana after high school before taking another path. Now he returns to Bloomington and enters an offense built to give quarterbacks greater flexibility.

Over the past two seasons, Hoover ranked second among Power Four quarterbacks in touchdown passes per game and led the group in passing yards, and while the interceptions came with the volume, Indiana’s recent track record suggests Cignetti and OC Mike Shanahan know exactly how to refine that edge.

This run is even more impressive because it doesn’t follow the usual formula for a national contender. With only seven past four-star recruits and no army of five-stars, Indiana shouldn’t even be a part of the Blue-Chip Ratio discussions. Yet here they are, favored by more than a touchdown, winning games with what Mendoza once called a “bunch of misfits.” Even unranked defenders like Rolijah Hardy turned into conference stars.